Batman: Demons and Monsters
by Chewbaxter
Summary: Six months after the defeat of Paladin, Jason Todd and his new team have been protecting Gotham with ease. But that doesn't mean all is good. With no clear enemy to target, tensions behind the masks are rising in the Batcave. Which gives a new group of enemies a chance to strike... Part Two of the Protocol Blood-Moon AU story. Read Part One first before reading this.
1. Six Months Later

Chapter One: Six Months Later

It was supposed to be an easy mission; like Gordon said, in and out. Reports of a shoot out at an old Wayne Enterprises warehouses with old, retired or cancelled projects stored inside. Whoever wanted inside was after something specific. So it was up to them to find out what, and take it away from them before they could use it for something wrong. Get in, get the intel, get out; simple.

Or so it seemed.

The leader of the assault seemed to be just some random gang, which meant that they were unorganised and could easily be ambushed if need be. When the Bat-Drone piloted by Sage got closer to the battle between the gang and the Wayne Enterprises security team, it spotted someone on the sidelines watching both sides fight it out. An old man, carrying a Ventriloquist doll dressed up in a pinstripe suit and carrying a Tommy Gun. Arnold Wesker, or more commonly known as Scarface and The Ventriloquist. Which made Jason Todd shiver under his suit.

"What's the plan, Batman?" Asked Rosa Nazerath, who was also watching the feed and seemed to be itching for some action. "Take out the dummy and the Old Man and get them to call off the attack?" She asked, unaware of how the Ventriloquist was.

"No rushing in this time, Robin," Cassandra Cain began to remind her. "Wesker and Scarface are too dangerous to face head-on even if one is a dummy."

"She's right. Wesker suffers from multiple personalities, with Scarface is his psychotic side and Wesker acts as if he is at the puppet's will, not his own." Batman explained to their young companion. "But he controls it, and he is saying everything the puppet is saying. It's all an act. Going after Wesker means you'd get shot at by that Tommy Gun until you're dead."

"So it's a stealth plan," Said Robin with a small hint of disappointment in her voice. "Dammit."

"There will be action tonight, Robin," Batman reassured her. "Just not with Wesker directly. Sage, Oracle have you got a game plan for us?" He asked on the comms. Both responded quickly.

"Sending it to your HUDs now." Sage - Tim Drake - confirmed. Oracle - Stephanie Brown - explained it to them as it loaded up for them.

"Black Bat and Robin, you'll be on crowd control. Keep Scarface's boys busy and push them back. Batman, I have a path for you to get into the warehouse with minimum damage to you or the attackers spotting you. When Cass and Rosa have the intel, Sage and I will scan for it so you can find it easily. Clear?"

"Confirmed." Batman looked to his two partners who were finishing looking at their path and nodded to confirm they were ready. "Execute," he ordered as the separated, preparing to fulfil the mission for the night.

But they didn't.

The plan was screwed over by a third voice - by the name of Jak Sharp - refusing to obey radio silence by talking to Cass. When on missions, the British Medic had the self-acclaimed codename of 'Red Cross', referring to himself as a 'Super-Doctor' who would arrive just to bring allies back to the cave for medical emergencies. In reality, he just drove an ambulance-like Batmobile that had a medical bay on it. But it didn't stop him from distracting all of them from the mission by reminding her of things she already knew about.

"Just be careful, okay, Cass? You're still recovering from that fight you had with Shiva last week. Be careful not to get hit in the same area. You sure you don't need me there?"

Jason constantly had to remind about the rule of radio silence - which irritated him so much seeing as he was an actual former soldier. He was only doing it because they were a couple and he thought he needed to look after her safety. But even then, should be common knowledge to him that if Cass wanted to stay alive, she would need to focus instead of listening to his constant whining of the comms. Even when Sage, Oracle and Robin tried to step in to shut him up, Jak persisted. Which ultimately helped cause the first mistake of the night.

Jak's persistent whining over the Comms was enough to distract both Robin and Black Bat from doing their assigned job of distracting Scarface's goons. Each time they tried to hide out of sight to attempt a flanking ambush, 'Red Cross' said something in their ear loud enough to cause the thugs to look their way and ruin the distraction. Cass eventually adapted it and worked it to their advantage, leaving the comm-link unattended so the thugs would look for them only to be attacked from behind by Robin's Bo-Staff and kept there while Black

"Don't bother trying to call for your friends, they won't find you. Talk about why Scarface and Weskar are attacking this place and we'll leave you to the Police." She ordered. The thug, a kid no older than nineteen struggled and failed to get out of the hold Robin had him in, so he attempted instead to deny her what she wanted.

"Fuck you!" He yelled, strained by the hold. Robin tightened it, making him groan.

"Don't make me break this arm!" She added as an incentive. "Talk and I'll let go!" She went just enough into the lock to a point where it would hurt like hell, but no break.

"Fuck- Fine! Fine, I'll talk, I'll talk!" The thug screamed in pain, conceding defeat. Robin kept the grip tight but to a point where it wouldn't be as painful. The young man talked tears in his eyes. "Some old man hired Wesker and the puppet to get some serum. I don't know what, he talked with his hands and some guy translated it. Now let me go! I wanna go home!"

Cass looked to Rosa and silently nodded to knock him unconscious quickly before anyone heard them, which she did with a swift swing from her staff to his temple. Once he was cuffed to a safe point, they grappled to the closest roof.

"Sage, Oracle; you both heard what that guy said?" Robin asked them as Cass reconnected herself to the channel they were on.

"Roger, Robin," Oracle confirmed. "Description easily fits Doctor Kirk Langstrom, creator of the Man-Bat serum. Bat-Drone is scanning the warehouse for anything that fit the same chemicals used for it now."

"Your jobs are done now, ladies," Sage added on. "Get out of there as quietly as possible. GCPD is on the scene and cleaning up the rest of Scarface's men with ease." He ordered them. Jak tacked himself into the conversation a sour tone in his voice; probably after a strict telling off from both Sage and Oracle off of the comms.

"Any injuries to report?"

"None here, Ja- sorry, Red Cross." Robin answered for both of them, frowning at Cass who was shrugging as if to say 'Don't look at me, he's just worried is all.' She didn't like the interruptions but bit her tongue for the most part because she was the student and technically, Jak had more experience in the field than her; even if that field was in an actual war zone.

Meanwhile, Jason - Batman - was waiting for his intel from the Bat-Drone to come in so he could go looking properly. But just as he looked at the process percentage - which was at 75% - he noticed someone exit the warehouse with a small, empty vial in his hand, struggling to stand. Concerned he had what he was looking for, Jason got closer, only to see him collapse suddenly, his body starting move rapidly like he was having a fit.

"Sage!" He shouted to his team, jumping down and trying to secure the man in the fit. "I found one of the vials! Someone's drunk straight from it and is reacting to the serum!"

"What's your location, Batman?" Asked Jak before Sage could reply. "I'll be there ASAP to pick him up!"

"Negative, you'll be too late. The transformations already starting!"

"He drank the serum? That could kill him!" Sage panicked.

Jason could see the Bat-Drone was quickly making its way over to the scene, but by the time it was in range to deploy a vaccine to the serum, it was too late. The man's body was changing rapidly. The top of his ears was growing to become pointy, his fingers webbed and claw-like and his back was beginning to grow hunched - so much so that it rose above his head. He was screaming in pain though, clearly rejecting the transformation and letting it tear his body apart because of it. His body hulked in size, but before the transformation was complete and he became the true Bat-like monster that the serum created, he let out one last cry of pain and fear, before falling to the ground, half mutated, but dead.

"Sage…" Batman unintentionally whispered to his team, in shock of what he just saw. "Red Cross…" He corrected himself quickly before continuing. "The transformation failed. The man is dead. There's not much we can do for him except report it to the police here…"

"Bat-Drone finished the scan of the warehouse. There's a whole crate full of the same serum. Nobody should get their hands on it." Sage informed Jason, showing him the location on his HUD.

"Agreed. I'm finding that crate and destroying it. Tonight, before this can happen again." He confirmed.

"Roger. I'll inform GCPD of the body and the context."

Following the tracked signal via the Bat-Drone, Batman found the crate of Serums with ease. But once he opened it, he saw that the pattern of a six-by-six row and stack was incomplete on the top. Three vials were missing, not just one. One was taken and used by the man outside. The other two, someone else had stolen.

"Shit."

* * *

"I don't get it," Jak said as Jason finished the debrief of his end of the mission. "What was this Serum meant for? Clearly not creating Frankenstein's Bat Monster, that's for sure. What was the original point?"

"If you took the time to read over the files from the Batcomputer," Tim responded calmly, going on to explain anyway. "You would know this. Doctor Kirk Langstrom originally created the serum to prevent him from going deaf. He wanted to see if he could gain the same hearing from a Fruit Bat but got a Vampire Bat instead. When he made the first type of serum and injected it - as you're supposed to - it transformed him completely."

"Turning him into the Man-Bat," Jason finished off. "Which I believe Alfred coined. I remember him once proudly mentioning it over comms as a kid."

"But what I don't understand is this: why didn't anyone finish the work?" Jak asked curiosity and disappointment in his tone. "With enough work, it could become a genuine vaccine for people losing their hearing."

"People have... tried?" Tim recalled. "They either never succeeded or created the same result. There has been more than one Man-Bat, but Langstrom was the original."

"I think that 'was' might need to be changed back to 'is', actually, Sage," Rosa piped in. The whole of them turned to her, watching her going through hers and Cass' mask footage of the confession they got from the thug the captured. She played back the confession for them all to hear.

"...he talked with his hands and some guy translated it."

"When was Langstrom last sighted?" Rosa asked all of her mentors, who looked to each other for answers. Now it was Oracle - Stephanie - who answered, having already looked it up beforehand.

"Three years ago. Said to have escaped Arkham in one of the riots, only to be shot dead by one of the guards before he could transform properly." She read the file aloud. "Died within minutes. How is that possible?"

"We'll ask that when we get to it," Jason concluded, taking the seat Rosa was in and closing the files she'd open. "That's enough for tonight. Rosa, Cass, you did well with your job; even with distractions in your ear. Take the rest of the night off. Tim and Steph, you two-"

"Wait, what was that supposed to mean?" Jak interrupted him, an angry look in his eyes.

"Jak." Jason turned and stared at the Medic, already fed up with him from his actions and questions, but biting his tongue for the sake of everyone else there. "Wait until I'm done with the others before I address you." He told him through grit teeth.

"No, I want to know what you meant by that?"

"You'll find out shortly. Unless you want me to reprimand you in front of everyone?"

"You don't exactly need my permission."

"And yet here you are, asking for it anyway."

"Then tell me."

Jason sighed, looking for Tim and Cass for support. Cass shrugged, clearly not wanting to watch this argument unfold. She placed a hand on Rosa's shoulder and gestured for her to take her back home via a Zeta Tube. Once their backs were turned, Tim nodded in agreement with Jason. Steph rolled her eyes, preparing for a repeat of the same 'conversation' for the third week in a row.

"Fine then." He started. "That man didn't have to die tonight - even if he was helping to steal the serum. Cass and Rosa had a job to do and they could have done it much more quickly if you had obeyed your orders and kept to radio silence. Because of your disobedience to your orders, they had to try over and over again to get one small piece of intel. If they intel sooner, I would have found the crate of the serum and destroyed it before anyone else could have gotten to them. Instead, you wasted a precious amount of time and continually chatted over comms when you specifically asked to by myself, Tim and Rosa to stay quiet unless spoken to. All because of your relationship with Cass - who is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Do you understand?" Jak stood there and listened to what Jason had to say, but clicked his tongue by the end of it, unimpressed.

"Did you actually destroy the crate?" He asked, dodging Jason's question.

"What are you talking about?"

"A crate full of a serum that is designed to help cure people losing their hearing." He clarified. "And you said you were going to destroy it. Did you actually do that?"

"Like I said in the debrief, no. It's evidence now. I had the GCPD move it to a secure location away from public eyes. No one can look for it unless asking those who moved it."

"But if you had destroyed it, wouldn't that be bad? Think about it, in the right hands, the serum could be corrected and become a vaccine for people's deafness! Now we have a crate full of them, and you want to destroy it? Doesn't that go against your mission to help Gotham and its people?" He concluded a smug look on his face to boot. Jason scowled, glaring at the Medic.

"You missed my point entirely. I don't want a debate about the morality of destroying something that was supposed to be good but is now bad; I want you to acknowledge your mistake on tonight's mission! You were a soldier in the British Army, right? So you know that you're not supposed to chat over the radio about pointless shit!"

"Cass' safety isn't 'pointless shit', Jason!"

"And like I said before, Jak; Cass is and was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. You're not just her medic anymore. You're the medic for this entire team! Your job - if you can be bothered to listen to me - is to wait for our call if one of us, or a civilian, is injured. You don't talk on comms unless you're spoken to! Do I make myself clear?"

Jason could see Jak's hands ball up into a fist, and prepare for him to throw a punch. Over the point of the reprimand-turned-argument, they'd inched closer to each other, to the point where they were standing up to each other. But before the argument could get any more heated and turn into a brawl between the two of them, Tim got in between the two of them.

"That's enough from both of you!" He yelled. "Jason, you're correct for telling Jak to shut up on Comms, but Jak has point about destroying the Serums. However, Jak, that doesn't mean you have the right to argue every point Jason makes at you. Call yourself a soldier or a Paramedic, I don't care; in this case, he's your CO and you take his orders with no back mouth, got it?" There was no reply from Jak at first, he just glared at the two of them with a clear focus on Jason. Tim could see that his mind was racing trying to think of an excuse, a retort to Tim or Jason. But eventually, he sighed and gave it up.

"...Fine." He reluctantly said. "I'm going home if you don't need me." And he walked away to the Zeta tube.

Jason looked to Tim again, breathing a sigh of relief. All he could do was stare back and nod in agreement. This arguing had to stop. But how?


	2. School Day

Chapter Two: School Day

"_Rosa! ¡Levántate o llegarás tarde a la escuela!_"

Rosa's mother, was her calling her to hurry up. Probably just so she wasn't annoyed by her alarm clock again. The obnoxious tones of the clock triggered Rosa's usual groan in bed. A normal teenager would be doing this because it meant Monday Morning. Rosa just did it because she was exhausted from the night before. Two minutes of ignoring passed before she was instructed again and, reluctantly obeyed, rushing through their apartment's small bathroom, to take a shower, where she drifted into her thoughts.

The night before had been a particularly difficult one to sleep off, even if she didn't take any damage from the fights they got in. It was mostly because of the argument between Jason and Jak afterwards. Maybe it was because of her training, but she was worried that Jak wasn't understanding his role in their work, even after six months. Just because he was dating Cass again, didn't mean he had to protect her all the time when she went out on patrol every night. Cass knew the risks. Her - their - job was to be the hero; his job was to fix her up when any one of the team got hurt. But it seemed he was doing it just to annoy Jason, which was working. When she talked to Cass about briefly, she seemed worried that if he kept pushing his luck with the boss though, eventually he'd push him back. To a point where it could make either of them spiral down a path of revenge. Which made Rosa worry - especially now that she knew about what Jason used to be before he was the Batman. _But Jak was a Doctor, right?_ She thought. _He wouldn't go that far, would he?_

"Rosa!" Her mother called out to her again, closer to the closed bathroom door and stopping her inner monologue.

"_¡Viene mamá!_" She responded, finishing up with what she was doing quickly and unlocking the door for her mom. She made a mental note to stop thinking about this sort of thing when at home in the future, only outside when she could be alone and not interrupted. She got dressed and ate her breakfast, then checked her school bag had everything ready for the day. Expensive textbooks that had been miraculously paid off for the school because of her Mother's job at Wayne Enterprises. A job that she was doing well and making a lot of new friends inside the company. Rosa was proud of her mom to have moved on from the loss of her husband and three sons in the past three months, but she could tell that there was still a lot of work to go before she could trust someone in a relationship again. Even with the friends she had made, she rarely went out with them or by herself; mainly because of the abuse Rosa's father had put on her when he was still alive. Which was a shame because, in her humble opinion, her mother was a beautiful woman and deserved love over the hatred she received.

Within ten minutes, she poured out her usual cereal of the day, eaten it and was now checking that her school bag was correct. Her books for English, Maths, French, History and Biology were present. On-time, the apartment phone rang, with her best friend Lisa Patton waiting downstairs so they could walk down to the stop together. In the time she'd been at Gotham High, Lisa had been with from the start, showing Rosa kindness, helping her catch up on classes and keeping her away from potential bullies. Once she secretly joined Jason and Cass' team and started to learn detective work, however, she started to suspect ulterior motives from Lisa, but none of her predictions came to pass, so it seemed she'd assumed too early.

"_¡Adiós mamá!_" She shouted down the hallway to her mom. "I'll see you tonight after work!"

"Okay, Rosa! _Vuelvo a las Ocho en punto,_ okay?" She replied. 'Back by eight?' She thought as she picked up her door keys and slung her backpack on, starting to leave the apartment. 'That's tighter than usual. I'll let Cass and Jay know but it might not work out that way…'

Lisa was waiting outside of her apartment building as usual, along with her beaming smile as Rosa exited the building. She was naturally blonde but had recently dyed her hair a mix of purple and pink which went well with her admittedly pretty sky blue eyes. Her usual outfit for school was a long-sleeved white shirt with black stripes and a jean jacket on top. She was an artist at heart, both drawing and writing stories anything that came to her head at the time. Rosa liked listening to her go on and on about them, even if they weren't well constructed or thought out. In this case, Lisa had recently been watching some animated TV-show based on a film based on another foreign film where a small group of skilled people were being chosen to defend a town from a larger group of villains, along with training the townsfolk to fight for themselves. As they were walking to the bus stop, Lisa was explaining how she was planning on writing her fan-story for the show, between two of the characters she paired romantically together.

"So in this, 'Alternate Universe' I guess, Charles and Sidney are on opposite sides in a gang war, but they don't realise at first when they meet and become friends." She was explaining. "But when Sidney starts to feel something more than just love as a friend he-"

"So it's a gay Romeo and Juliet?" Rosa asked, cutting her friend off. Lisa paused, then nodded simply.

"...I didn't think about it like that. But I guess so." She smiled, optimistic as ever that this idea of hers was the best ever. In the show itself, the point of the two characters she was talking about was that they were technically enemies, but Rosa was never one to pick holes in other people's work. Leave that to professional critics. The two of them arrived at the bus stop with about five minutes to spare and Lisa continued listing off her ideas for the fan-story with the new Shakespeare musing in mind. Rosa acted like she was listening when in reality she was, out of habit, looking to the morning sky to spot any super-villain-like acts going on. Even in the day, she was still Robin. And if a threat came their way, she was being trained in the skills to stop it from continuing. Batman was mainly nocturnal, but Robin? She flew in the day and the night. When the School Bus eventually arrived for them and they boarded and continued their conversation there, with Rosa adding insight and asking plot questions where she could. Their other friends slowly joined in and sat in the same area as them with the conversation twisting and turning to different topics. Ross snapped back into it when she heard acne-ridden Matty Ford loudly exclaimed:

"NO WAY! I AM SO PUTTING THIS ON YOUTUBE!" He - along with most of the other kids on the bus - was looking out the bus window and staring at, with no other words for it, a battle in motion! Two masked men, unknown to anyone, were fighting out on the road next to them. The one attacking looked to be the antagoniser of the two, as was slashing two curved swords at the other man, who was unarmed and on the back foot. The man with blades was in an all-black Jester costume with a white mask and smaller blades on each finger. His opponent, meanwhile, was in a frankly unorthodox costume that looked like it had been thrown together in a night - wearing a hoodie and some basic protective gear for his chest, wrap-around tape and gloves from his wrists to his hands and a mask that was both black and white. Everyone was cheering him on, but they didn't know his name, so they were just making loud noises when either of the two fighters looked like they could win it, while the bus was still in the area for them to watch it. For the sake of fitting in, Rosa joined them, while also making a mental note to mention it to Jason Cass and Tim that night if there as a moment to spare. Before the driver moved on from the scene they could see that somehow the underdog of the two was winning, managing to disarm one of his opponent's swords with a kick - making everyone scream with excitement. And while they were out of range from the fight shortly after this, the chatter about it bloomed amongst everyone there.

"Who do you think that was?" Asked a kid called Conner Jules.

"Maybe a new friend of Batman?" Matty suggested.

"But he wasn't wearing a Batman symbol!" Another kid - a

"Nightwing and Robin don't! Why should he?"

And so on.

The bus arrived at Gotham High School on time as always, but it seemed everyone was buzzing about these two new masks in the City. Rosa stuck close by to Lisa and Matty as they read through online threads talking about them and giving potential names to both of them. One person closer to the fight managed to snap a clear photo of the underdog's mask - showing the Comedy/Tragedy symbols in the world Theatre. Once that was established, it became a good nickname: Theatre. It rolled off the tongue. His opponent's name, however, was harder to come by. Most forums were getting into arguments about if he was 'the next Joker' - which turned into an argument about whether the Joker needs replacing, which turned into an argument about how he may have a point. Eventually, they found a thread that skipped all of the nonsense and just got straight to it, calling him Black Claw.

"Seems a bit boring," Said Matty as they left Home Room and went to their first class, "But to be honest, it works."

"You shouldn't be complimenting the obvious bad-guy, Matty," Rosa said back. "He could have killed that other guy, or someone in the crowd that was watching."

"Or us," Another voice joined in. It was the third member, Justice Adams, an African-Latino girl with a tightly bunned up Afro and the sides of her head shaved. Alongside her, hand in hers was her boyfriend, Jonah Hayden; who was half-black. Justice explained how their bus got closer to the fight, and 'Theatre' almost crashed into the side of their window.

"Was he, y'know? A Meta?" Asked Matty in a whisper. Lisa hit him softly for using what was technically a slur for the super-powered Humans. He returned it with 'What? That's the proper term?' look.

"We don't know," Jonah shrugged. "He didn't use his power if he is."

"Whoever he is, I hope he's okay," Rosa finished off before turning into the room of her English Class. "Talk to you guys later!" They waved her off and quickly rushed off after she'd gone.

* * *

Mr Chain's English classes were fun. The curriculum - which was the analysis of the Shakespeare plays, The _Two Gentlemen of Verona_ and _The Tempest_ \- was challenging to learn, yet he made it fun by bending the rules slightly and making the class read abridged versions in Modern English. Rosa might have enjoyed the day's class more, however, if her TA - Harris Shout - wasn't such an ass. Every time she made a point about either text, linking them together or separately, he would scoff or undermine it. The most recent example being her comparisons of the modern criticisms of both plays hen it comes to a Feminist perspective. Mr Chain had asked a question about something that has remained throughout the majority of Shakespeare's plays without it being a theme? Rosa, obeying the classroom rules with a hand up, replied:

"Shakespeare's sexism, sir. It isn't even a theme, it's just assumed that the characters can be used as objects for men to swap. Valentine is literally given to the man that tried to rape her three minutes before, by Proteus, who's supposed love her!" Mr Chain nodded in agreement, so she continued.

"Then you have the Tempest, which Feminist Writers criticise heavily for Miranda for being a stereotype for female characters; naive yet beautiful. Also when she shows her knowledge, it disturbs her own Father. It's super sexist but their not even the worst offenders." Mr Chain smiled eagerly.

"Good, Rosa! But can you link it to the text I gave you last week?" He asked. Before she could reply though, Mr Shout mindlessly spoke up.

"Probably the feminist writer's quote, right? The one that got done for plagiarism in the same essay, right? Katherine something…?" Rosa glared at him.

"_Katherine Inigo_." She corrected the TA. "And that was an accusation, there was no proof for the plagiarism."

"Rosa, can you answer the question?"

"Yes sir, I just think Mr Shout was being rude for the interruption. What I was going to say was, that Miss Inigo said that Miranda's character is a prime example of the patriarchal society England was at the time, even when the country had Queen Elizabeth I as a Monarch."

Mr Chain moved on with what Rosa said in mind, but from there on, whenever she tried to speak again Mr Shout would answer the question for her instead of letting her say it. Like she was a child that didn't know and needed to be helped all the time. Rosa knew she couldn't exactly tell him to shut up, but she wanted to so much. She hated having a TA by her side in class, but for some reason, she couldn't seem to get the school to stop giving her one. She'd asked the Department for School Assistance, the head of her year and even got her mom to email the Head, but nothing worked. And while Shout wasn't the only TA she got, he was the most common and nobody seemed to give a damn about what he was doing when it came to how he acted around her.

Almost enough to be suspicious.

After a whole day of having to suffer through Mr Shout's undermining of her efforts to do well in her classes - except for Lunch, where she got to briefly complain about it to her friends - she decided to investigate her suspicions as Robin. Usually, she would have messaged Jason or Cass about her doing something like this so they knew she wasn't just skipping out on training. But in this case, Rosa needed to be secretive about it until she thought it was right to reveal it to them. She trusted them enough to know that when she would report her suspicions and findings, they would allow her to continue it freely.

So, as Robin, Rosa watched from afar as the last of the students leaked out of the gates to walk home or into the City. She knew that most of the teachers would stay behind to continue working, but before she got changed she made sure that Mr Shout had left the building before she went to check. The plan was simple; all she had to do was sneak into the Department for School Assistance, find his record, take a copy of it without getting caught by anyone and cross-reference it with Sage's network to see if he was faking his teaching credentials. Then she - or Sage, it didn't matter who - would tip it to the GCPD, who would arrest him for a fake degree.

At least she hoped it would be fake. If there was no degree at all, then the school would be in more trouble and frankly, Rosa liked going there. These were the thoughts going through her mind as she slipped into the school, using her training to the best of her ability to stay out of sight from anyone that was still there. Surprisingly, Gotham High didn't have a lot of security for a place that was in the middle of a city with such a bad crime record - even if it was dropping in the last few months. Maybe Gothamite criminals had an unspoken rule about schools? It seemed unlikely, but she liked to be optimistic about those kinds of thoughts. Nevertheless, it was easy to sneak past the few security guards that lazily patrolled the halls and eventually she got to her location. She waited at the door and pressed her ear to the door, listening in. It sounded quiet, but she could hear the smallest hint of classical music in the room. Someone was in there, most likely alone trying to work in peace. That complicated things. Rosa couldn't think about it for long though, as she heard two sets of feet step her way down the hallway.

"...I'm just saying that she's difficult to work with is all." Said one. Rosa recognised the voice as Mrs Johnson. She and Lisa had her as their Art teacher.

"I think it's encouraging, Esme," Said the other - belonging to the TA Miss Prince. "Lisa is one of the most engaged art students I've seen you teach since Harper Row." They were about to turn the corner to the office Rosa was at, she could feel it. She dived and rolled for a small space between the lockers, hoping that she wasn't spotted while they were talking.

"Harper Row was good in my class because most of the other kids were," Mrs Johnson argued with her friend. "She just stood out to you because you were helping her brother after their dad was outed as an abuser to the two of…" Their conversation was muted as they entered the office.

"Shit," Rosa swore under her breath. As she started to think of more options, she felt a buzz from her communicator. She swore again as she read a message from Jason on her HUD.

"_Rosa, report in. Cass said you didn't show for pick up. Is something wrong?"_ Having read the message, she needed to respond or she'd be in worse trouble.

"_Overheard some bigger kids talking about helping out with a 'job' of some kind. I'm following them from a distance to see if they were doing anything. Will keep you informed if they make a move._" She lied, hoping that they didn't check her location. There was a pause, then Jason responded simply with

"_...Okay._"

_Okay,_ Rosa thought to herself. _He totally knows I'm lying. Shit._

What options did she have exactly? She couldn't just burst into the room and demand the file on Harris Shout's personal file, like the Super-Villains she fought. She couldn't wait for ages until the place was empty as she'd have to get caught at some point. And she couldn't just leave and go to the Batcave like it was nothing, or Jason would have so many questions she'd be seen through like a window. So out of the three, she chose to risk getting caught over everything else. Doing her best to stay covered, she made her way to a position that was out of the way for anyone remaining in the school. One of the toilets would do. She found her way to the closest one, went into a stall, put the seat down and began to wait. A minute passed. Then five. Ten. Then twenty. While she waited, Rosa came up with a reasonable scenario to tell Jason and the team, expanding on the lie she messaged him before. She hated lying - especially to them because it was so hard to do it - but for the sake of this case, she had to introduce it in a way that didn't make her look biased. If she introduced it to them like this on her own, then they'd drop it and...

"_Robin. Come in._" Jason's voice came over her communicator, making her jump out of her thought bubble. Twenty-five minutes had passed, and Jason has been trying to message her for an update on the made-up case she was 'pursuing'.

"_Update me on your case._" He ordered. "_Because Oracle is not picking up anything like what you described…_" Shit.

"Um," Rosa's mind went blank, forgetting everything she'd just come up, the sudden pressure of her mentor talking to her properly getting to her a bit too easily. "Yes. I was wrong. The person talking was either boasting about something he's not involved with and overheard, or he was just lying."

"_Explain your current position then._" He demanded. His voice sharp and he wasn't buying into the lies. "_You're in your school still. You have been for the last half an hour. Why?_" There was no coming back from this now. Rosa couldn't say anything that would get her out of the hole she'd dug herself. The only responsible thing to do was to come clean.

"...I lied. I am pursuing a case, but not what I described. I think I've found someone at my school teaching illegally. I want to see if his documents are fake and-"

"_Negative. It's irrelevant._" Jason cut through her. He was angry about her lie, but there was also something else. A small hint of pride? Unlikely. "_We have a job to do tonight and I need you focused._" He snapped orders at her. "_Come back to the cave this instant. Via Zeta, if you must._"

"But-"

"_That's an order, Robin. Disobey and you'll be dismissed permanently. Simple as that._" The call ended after that.

Rosa had no choice in the matter. Her plan had failed. So she obeyed and left the school for the nearest Zeta-Tube back to the Bat-Cave.


	3. The Armoury

Chapter Three: The Armoury

"Welcome back, Mr Drake." Said Lucius Fox as Tim Drake's automatic wheelchair rolled into his and his son's shared office.

"Lucius. Luke." Tim nodded with a smile. "Are we secure?" He asked, going straight to the business he assumed he was called in for. Luke nodded for his father.

"Nobody will be disturbing us while we talk. As always."

"Good," Tim stopped his chair and turned it to a seemingly plain wall. "Then show me what you have in stock."

Lucius smiled as he pressed a hidden button on his desk. The wall reacted and revealed their secret armoury for Batman and his allies. The three of them made their way in slowly. Lucius talked as they walked.

"The upgrades to Mr Todd's suit are being worked on, although we'll need a bit more time to implement them and create it properly. In the mean-time, we have some other things for him and his associates to test for us. For example:" Luke picked up a collapsed Bo-Staff made for Robin and activated it, demonstrating it for Tim.

"The latest design in Robin's Bo-Staff," Lucius continued. "Has been updated to carry a…"

"Taser on either end? I thought that was on the staff already, like Nightwing's Escrima Sticks?" Tim asked, confused. Luke nodded and explained for his dad.

"Unlike Nightwing's design though, the taser can now be launched from a distance of about twenty feet," he explained, which Tim nodded in agreement with. "We're working on expanding that to about thirty, maybe even forty - along with making it easily replaceable - but we'll need time for that too."

"In the mean-time however," Lucius guided Tim over to a familiar Motorbike on a small raised platform. "The new _Redbird_ Cycle is ready for Robin to use."

"Once she can drive it that is," Luke mentioned, which his Father seemed to handwave away.

"We've upgraded her to connect to both your Sage and Oracle's Networks, quicker reaction times when in auto-drive and have her clocked in at about 210 MPH." The elder Fox continued. "Anything to add before we hand her off to the newest Robin?" Tim considered it, swiping away a message he was getting from Jason on his HUD - coincidentally about Rosa.

"...What weapons are equipped?" He eventually asked. Luke shook his head.

"Usually we'd add the same as the Bat-bike, but we decided that as Robin is still a minor, equipping her with a vehicle _with_ weapons would be a little too much for the public to bare." He joked and again, Tim agreed. When he was Robin, Bruce thought that as long as the Bike's gadgets were non-lethal, it wouldn't do any harm to equip _Redbird_ with useful toys. Jason - since becoming Batman - was more conservative. He'd once told Tim:

"_Batman doesn't kill, nor do his allies. Robin is no exception. No one under my command will wield a lethal weapon without the proper training to make sure they never kill with it._"

In recent times, Tim had found that Jason was taking the best parts of Bruce and mixing it with himself when it came to being a leader. Whenever he wasn't working - be it Batman or his security guard 'Peter Hood' - Jason's mind seemed to focus on relearning the skills Bruce had taught him. Mainly the skills of a Detective, which he claimed were rusty, even though he had Tim to guide him when in the field. Perhaps he was doing it so he could solve problems on his own should it ever came to that, which made sense. It was likely that soon, his duties as the CEO of Wayne Enterprises would take over from his duties fighting crime from his wheelchair. He had an important meeting with a new partner the next day.

"Lucius," He asked as the three of them were leaving the secret armoury. "Remind me of the timings for the meeting of Eldritch Technologies tomorrow?"

"Mr Henry Eldritch, the founder of the company, is flying to the Country as we speak. He has a few advisers and board members - and I think maybe his fiance?" He looked to Luke who gave a shrug and a look that said he didn't know either. He continued anyway, "You two should be meeting for an eleven AM meeting, along with a special lunch." Tim nodded simply.

"Okay, sure, I can work with that." The meeting regarded the Bruce Wayne School for Meta-Human Students that was going to replace Wayne Manor. Wayne Enterprises itself had already spent quite a lot of money on the rebuilding of the old Manor house, along with a private school layout in mind; but they needed outside funding for some of the more difficult areas of what the school was meant to be. And to make sure he couldn't out Bruce as Batman from the grave, he contacted Eldritch Technologies in Germany to sell them certain equipment they'd sold to the Justice League and Teen Titans to in the past. Heinrich 'Henry' Eldritch II, Founder and CEO of the company, seemed extremely eager to help, saying he had some ideas he would like to share for the school if they were investing in it. Tim agreed, but on the condition, it was in person so they could have others in charge at the project present to note them down.

Tim looked down at his Wheel-chair's HUD again and saw that both Jason and Stephanie were messaging him about Rosa. And not in a good context.

_Jason: Tim. Check on Rosa's location for me ASAP? She's not gone to Cass for pick up and we need her for a mission tonight. _

_Jason: Nevermind, got Steph to do it._

_Jason: Tim. Get to the cave now. I need a hand with this. Rosa's lying about her position and I need advice._

_Steph: Tim? You there? Jason's going crazy in the Cave about Rosa. Need you here._

"Shit," He swore, which made both Fox's flinch.

"Something wrong sir?" Lucius asked.

"Something at the cave." He said, messaging them both back to tell them he was coming. "I need to go back to my office."

"I'll walk there with you," Luke offered, which he accepted for the sake of not arousing suspicion. They parted ways and headed to their location, Luke dropped Tim off and waited for him to be alone before he got the all-clear to reveal his Zeta-Tube. From there, he entered the permission code to go to the Bat-Cave.


	4. Langstrom's Lab

Chapter Four: Langstrom's Lab

"How is it irrelevant, exactly?" Asked Rosa as she stood up for herself against her mentors.

"Your explanation of this 'case' shows that you have an immediate bias towards this man." Jason returned, standing next to Cass, Tim and Stephanie who were looking down at her like a child who'd just disobeyed her mother. "And even then, you had a much easier way of finding that out without having to break into your school and stealing a file that likely didn't exist. You could have contacted Oracle and she would have done everything else for you."

"But I thought that-"

"If you did break into the office like you said you were going too, and you were caught, the school would have the right to call the police. They could have seen you unmasked. They could have recognised you from up close." Jason argued before she could finish her sentence.

"Rosa, the point is that it was too risky to do it while so many people were in the building with you," Cass said, calmer than Jason. "One wrong move and you would have blown everything we've trained you to do in an evening." Rosa understood that, but coming from Cass made it hurt more.

"Besides, we needed you here. We had important information for tonight's mission."

"But, since I went over it with Tim last night, and Jak hasn't bothered to show up, we can go over it now," They moved on from the lecture, but even Rosa could see that tensions were still high - especially between Cass and Jason with his remark about Jak. She had given him an unapproving stare from the side when he said it, which made Rosa worry about their relationship in recent times again. Jason began to explain to the plan for the night.

"Last night we deduced that Doctor Kirk Langstrom hired Scarface and the Ventriloquist to steal a crate full of his Man-Bat Serum. The reason for this is unknown, but it's clear that he's back in Gotham for this otherwise he wouldn't have hired Arnold Wesker's gang to do the raid. Today I had Bat-Drones the whole of the City looking for any signs of Langstrom or anyone; together they found over a dozen anomalies that I slowly cut down to an estimate of five-to-ten. Tonight, we'll be investigating the majority of them, at least the ones that are within a mile of each other. If my suspicions are correct, Langstrom has slowly built up a subversive laboratory underneath the City, with multiple entrances and exits via the sewer network."

"A bit outlandish for someone like Langstrom don't you think?" Steph pointed out. "He's not exactly rich."

"The Bat-Computer cross-referenced some of the locations with places that people like Victor Fries or Jarvis Tetch as previous, but now abandoned, hideouts," Jason quickly explained. "If he's made a network with all of these, it's likely the entrances will be hidden in some way. I couldn't get the drones to scan the buildings because that would have taken longer." He went to the Bat-Computer and pulled up a map of Gotham as a whole - along with the points of the investigation they were going to for the night. Three points were out of the small perimeter, but still within range to explore.

"So, we're not going to those?" Rosa asked, curiously. "Why? What if that's where he's there and these ones are traps? What if he's working with someone like Riddler?"

"It's a fair point," Jason nodded in acknowledgement. "Which is why I called Dick to investigate it while he's in town. He's already heading out there from Bludhaven. Though he was reluctant because apparently, it's his turn to look after the baby tonight. Hopefully, he found a sitter."

"Knowing Dick, he's probably got little Freddy in his car seat as he goes to the scenes." Steph snickered at the thought she just conjured. "Imagine seeing Nightwing in an SUV with a kid on the highway." Rosa laughed too but was stopped quickly after a side glance from Cass. Tim spoke up next, not giving Steph the satisfaction of acknowledgement in her joke.

"Nightwing will let us know if he finds Langstrom or any labs with the Man-Bat serum, but he's not engaging unless ordered to do so. If you find him tonight, GCPD will be informed it. Commissioner Gordon already knows about the job tonight and has men on standby for Langstrom's arrest, along with other teams in case of complications."

"And if we don't find him, the Bat-Drones will be recalibrated and made to look again in the morning," Jason concluded. "This mission will run as long as necessary. We'll be searching each place thoroughly which could mean up to an hour each." Rosa put her hand up to speak as she remembered what her mother said that morning.

"My mom said I need to be back by Ten PM tonight. Is that do-able?" She asked, trying to stay in line after his lecture beforehand. Jason bit his tongue for a moment before speaking.

"We'll manage without you if we must. But if it's just a curfew, it's not out of character for you to break it by half an hour. Deal?" Jason asked to which Rosa nodded silently, not wanting to cause an argument.

"Good. Ready in five. Anyone that breaks the rules tonight will not be coming back."

-

Surprisingly, it didn't take long to find Langstrom's Lab. Once they went out into the city and to the planned location of their investigation for the night, they only spent half an hour investigating before Black Bat found what they were looking for. A half-hidden trap door leading to a sub-level laboratory that was somehow cleaner than the actual building it was hidden in. Jason suspected it used to belong to Mr Freeze before he disappeared, but as they went further in, he was unsure if it belonged to anyone beforehand.

The place had already been practically destroyed. Machines had been broken, equipment smashed and worst of all, people were dead. All three of them were silent as they counted three dead bodies in the lab. Two of them were technicians, a young couple who likely helped Langstrom in some way out of pity; and they were paid by getting shot. And then there was Langstrom himself. He had been hung from the ceiling with his tie. It was obvious he had resisted. Whoever did it had stabbed him did so multiple times in his stomach and most likely caused the damage around the room because of it. The hanging was rushed, a last-minute decision. Expressing this to the group was difficult, but they knew it was necessary.

"The person who stole the Man-Bat serums weren't loyal to him," Cass mentioned. "That means there is a third party we've yet to meet." Jason agreed.

"Whoever they are, they want to use Man-Bat somehow in their plans. Which possibly means they want to improve the serum to make the change controllable." He added on.

"Or he just wants to be the next one," Robin called over from the next room. The other two looked at each other before they went to find her. It quickly became clear why she'd said this. In blood, a message had been sprawled across the wall.

"_**MONSTERS SERVE DEMONS!"**_

"Well that can't be good," Jason joked in the moment, immediately regretting it thanks to the icy glare of Cass.

"What does it mean?" Asked Rosa.

"Maybe the League of Shadows aren't out of Gotham as we thought?" Jason thought aloud.

"We'd know if this was a member of the Shadows." Cass disagreed. "Hanging someone after failing to kill them isn't exactly their way either."

"Agreed; Sage? Any ideas?"

"_I'll contact someone who knows about Magic and 'Demons' with agendas like this, but I doubt I'll have anything for a while._ _For now, prioritise finding this new Man-Bat._"

"_If_ there's a Man-Bat to find." Cass corrected Sage. "I still think whoever this wants to change the serum before he uses it on anyone."

"Just like someone else we know?" Mumbled Jason, which caused another icy stare from Cass. He shook his head back in a dismissive fashion. "What? Don't look at me like that, I don't mean him, I just think it's a very similar argument to Jak's idea last night. Am I not wrong?"

"Don't talk about him like that."

"Like what?" He scoffed.

"Like he's guilty before he's innocent. You're the one that puts him on blast. You're the one that gives him nothing to do."

"Don't be like that Cass. He's a Doctor; his job is medical. If he wants to be one of us, that'd be fine, but he doesn't have the correct training for it,"

"But it's also because you don't trust him." Cass interrupted.

"He was a criminal!"

"_So were you!_"

Rosa had moved on, not wanting to see or hear her mentors fight like this. The cold tension between them was unnerving her and she wanted to get the mission over with so she could go home. She went further down into the room, watching the walls and ceiling for any Bat-like creatures that could be hanging around, waiting for its next meal of the evening. Unsurprisingly, she didn't find it like that; but she did find another door. It used to be hidden from plain sight, but this one had been… literally torn down. Giant claw marks had torn into the metal, ripped it apart haphazardly. Stepping into the place it led to, there was nothing but a short corridor before a ladder went up to the surface.

"Sage - or Oracle, whoever's there - are you seeing what I've found?" She asked her comms, not wanting to go in without advice from at least professional.

"_Yes, Robin,_" Oracle replied quickly. "_Stay put, I'm informing the others._"

"Are they still arguing?" She asked, her frustration surfacing.

"_I know it's annoying, but-_"

_**SCREEEEEEE**_

Silence on both ends. Rosa knew that the source was coming from above. She knew that it was awake and possibly waiting for her. So even with her complaints about her mentor's pointless arguments, she decided to wait.


	5. Man-Bat

Chapter Five: Man-Bat

_**SCREEEEEEE**_

Jason swore as he and Cass caught Rosa up and heard the banshee-like scream of what was clearly a Man-Bat. As Robin he hated fighting the creature, though to be fair, when he did first encounter it, he had been doing one of his sulky 'alone missions' he did when Bruce had yelled at him for something he'd done wrong the night before. Still, it was enough to make him fear fighting it just a little. Man-Bat wasn't unpredictable, but it was hard to control, especially in the air. Cass, though just as professional as him, hadn't gone up against it and was lacking original ideas.

"Can we lure it down? Trap it without killing it?" She asked Jason with a hint of panic in her voice.

"It's tricky, but the best way to defeat a Man-Bat in the past was grounding it and making sure it can't get into the air again." He recalled. He'd seen Bruce and Dick do this before, but he had never managed to replicate it.

"But to do that we'll need a distraction. Someone as bait." Rosa suggested, but also volunteering, heading to the ladder and climbing up two steps before looking back.

"You're sure?" Jason asked. She nodded in confirmation.

"I can do it. And if I get caught I'll figure something out." Though she couldn't tell from his full helmeted mask, there was a smile of pride on Jason's face. In the short time, she'd become Robin, Rosa had grown a lot, adapting to his way of training her and way of work. And even with the small slip up she'd done today, he knew that without her joining, him being Batman would be a lot harder right now. She was good at the job. It would be a shame to fire her simply because of a mistake she'd made on a hunch.

Rosa went up two more steps. He looked back to Cass, who was preparing the sword on her back. She gave him a look that said 'just in case'. He nodded back to confirm. As much as it broke the code, it was likely this thing would end up dead by the end of the night. Whether he liked it or not.

They got back into character once Rosa got the go-to move out into the outside. She opened the hatch and looked around the area, seeing nothing. The place looked destroyed already. It was quiet too. She got out of the hole and ran to the nearest place of cover, scanning the area again, the ceiling especially. The night's darkness was seeping in, but she could just see it. The Man-Bat hung in the furthest left corner of the building, staring at her. And Rosa began to regret her decision to be the bait.

_**SCREEEEEEE**_

Man-Bat launched itself at the new target, wings spread wide as it glided down low to snatch her up. Robin's reacted quickly enough, launching her grapple and swinging up far enough to avoid the monster's claw and teeth. Once she landed, she figured out the rhythm she needed for her two partners. While she swung and distracted, Batman and Black Bat would tie it down.

Robin could see them emerge as Man-Bat swung its head around looking for her, using its ears to hear her movement. She used this to her advantage, setting three of her Wing-Dings to a sonic frequency and throwing them at a target to lure it away from their spot. The monster took the bait, screeching in fury at the sonic devices and flying towards them to try and disable them. Robin could see the two of them preparing their trap. As she was preparing herself to distract it once more, she saw someone new appear next to her Wing-Dings.

And he kicked Man-Bat in the head, sending the creature to the ground!

"_What the hell was that?_" Robin heard Batman shout in the comms as it landed close by to the two of them. A man in a hoodie, wrap-around tape with gloves and a black and white mask.

"Theatre!" Though she called out the given nickname by the ones who saw him that same morning, the masked man looked to her in confusion, as did Batman and Black Bat. It seemed none of them was aware of the name. Theatre silently cocked his head to a side, still on Man-Bat while it was trying to regain its strength. Once it did, the man jumped off and flipped onto the ground like it was nothing to him, pointing to Batman to do their plan if they had one. Obeying as quickly as possible the two of them launched their grapples as Man-Bats legs, connecting the two lines to the ground. The monster was still screeching but, they sounded more like cries of help than screams of bloodlust. Robin could see it in its eyes that it wanted to fly away from its captures and into the night.

"Finish it!" Batman ordered with strain as he held both cables with all his strength, while his partner dashed her way to the creature to take out its wings and inject the cure serum. But as she as climbing up to attack it, the unknown masked man went back on his previous silent command. The moment Black Bat pulled her sword out to cut Man-Bats wings, Theatre jumped towards her and deflected the strike in a mid-air collision. Confused, he took advantage and kicked her off the advantage point she was at and jumped back down onto the monster, making it let out another terrible cry of pain as his weight surprised Man-Bat. All Batman could do was watch as Theatre looked at the cables and extracted a knife from his pocket and cut both lines. Both in one cut.

"No!" Robin realised what Theatre was doing and tried to stop it, throwing three Wing-Dings at him in an attempt to distract, but to no avail. The masked man jumped out of the way of all of them with precision, stunning Robin with how fast he was! Either her move was predicted or, somehow, he was trained enough to dodge three flying blades in midair. While impressed, Robin couldn't stop to think about it for too long. She jumped into the battle herself, reaching for her Bo-Staff and extending it enough to get a surprise hit on Theatre, putting him to the floor while she stood on top. Only then did she realise her mistake, as Man-Bat began to move freely again, snorting wildly as it began to gain speed to start its flight again. Robin launched her grapple again to get off, watching where Theatre in case she could flank him with Batman close by. She could see him running to keep up with Man-Bat as it gained speed to fly up and out of the building. Whatever he was doing, it seemed Theatre wanted to chase after it still.

Batman, having given up on the cables once cut, was chasing him on foot there, so Robin landed close by with her staff still in hand, watch her allies corner their new opponent. Man-Bat gave one final screech as it flew off and out of the building. Theatre looked on, stuck in the middle of the three people he helped for a short time before stopping their plan from happening. He was backed up against a wall as Batman punched him square in the jaw, slamming his head against it.

"What the hell was that?!" He demanded to know. "Who the hell do you think you are letting that thing out on the City? Do you know how dangerous those creatures are? How many people they've killed in the past?" The masked man recovered slowly looking at his interrogator. Then he slowly spoke.

"...He's not your enemy." He said. "_We're_ not your enemy. We just… wanted to help…"

"He?" Black Bat asked. "Who's he? The Man-Bat?" Theatre nodded his head.

"...Worked with the Doctor. Wanted to be like you. Didn't know about the man with the gun…"

"That doesn't add up," Batman shook his head. "What about the writing on the wall in Langstrom's Lab?" He asked. "Did your friend do that before the transformation?"

"The other man!" Theatre was cowering now, shaking as he recalled what happened. "He took the vials! Wrote it in Langstrom's blood! Cut my friends! Injected one of them into Harry!"

"Who was this man?" Black Bat asked again, putting an arm against Batman as she spoke.

"Black Claw..." Robin said, remembering the nickname of the other man she saw that morning fighting Theatre. Her two allies looked at her confused. "The man in the black Jester costume. I saw the fight you had with him this morning. Was it him? Did he…"

"Yes!" Theatre answered before she could finish. "He… he calls himself Throat Cutter though... It's what he did to…" He seemed to be crying under the mask now. Robin jumped down next to him but looked up at Batman.

"He can't be lying. The man he fought this morning. He was well trained. Maybe from the League of-"

"That's not possible." Batman disagreed. "We'd know if this was the work of the Shadows. Whoever this… Black Claw is, we'll find them." He turned with Black Bat and started to message Sage. Robin looked back to Theatre, but he was gone. She smiled silently, finally understanding how it felt. Then she followed her mentors out of the building.

From a close-by building, Theatre watched them. Man-Bat latched onto the building beside him. The two looked at each other. Theatre reached into his pocket and waved two vials of the serum at the creature.

"He will be pleased with our success. While they chase our friend in black, we will raid and cause havoc!" He giggled with glee, before mounting Man-Bat and flying into the night.


	6. Doesn't Add Up

Chapter Six: Doesn't Add Up

The Batmobile drove into the Cave with just Jason at the wheel. After the interrogation of the masked man Rosa called 'Theatre', Cass volunteered to take her home and then would continue to patrol for a few more hours on her own. Jason agreed, needing some space from her after their argument in Langstrom's lab. In hindsight, it was a petty remark he should have apologised for. But then again, he still didn't trust Jak, even six months after he joined them against the Paladin crisis. Even after it had ended, he still acted like he was playing some game of chess against every villain they came up against. He wasn't even good at it, from what tactics Jason recalled him suggesting. He once literally gave the idea of fighting fire with fire when Firefly was causing trouble a few months back.

That didn't matter right now though. What Jason couldn't get out of his head was Theatre. The way he fought them to free Man-Bat. The way he talked about what happened before they arrived. How he suddenly appeared half-way through the fight out of nowhere with no explanation. His alibi. In his mind, it just didn't add up. As he parked the Batmobile and exited it, he lifted his helmet and made his way towards the batcomputer. Tim and Stephanie were there waiting for him.

"That could have gone better," Tim stated to clear the awkward silence in the air.

"But at least that Theatre guy had a good reason to set the Man-Bat free." Steph pointed out. Jason shook his head in disagreement.

"No, he didn't." Placing his helmet on the side, Jason plugged a cable from the computer in and started to look for the footage of that night's events. He was looking for something in particular. Something that stuck out to him during the interrogation.

"What are you looking for exactly?" Steph asked him, confused.

"Not all of the answers Theatre gave to our questions tonight add up to what we saw beforehand. Not all of his actions during the fight made sense either." Jason pulled up the footage of them in Langstrom's lab. He remembered specifically examining the bodies of the two other people in the lab - which is what the footage showed. And just as he remembered, he saw what he was looking for. Bullet wounds in the two of them. Not a slashed throat.

"...I see. So you think that Theatre was lying about the way these two were murdered?" Tim asked, clearly still sceptical about Jason's theory.

"Potentially to cover his tracks of something he didn't tell us." He answered his friend, quickly scrolling through the footage to find his next point on contempt against Theatre. It took a moment, but he found it. When Cass was ordered by him to 'finish it' by Jason, she took her sword and serum of the cure for Man-Bat. Jason paused the footage again and zoomed in on Theatre's reaction. He wasn't looking at the sword, but the cure. He slowed down the next part and told them to watch carefully. Before he disarmed Cass' sword, he went for the cure. When he missed, he disarmed her.

"Oh shit…" Steph swore under her breath. "This guy might be the bad guy here." Tim nodded, moving closer to Jason.

"What else do you have?" He asked. Jason moved the footage forward a little more and examined his fighting style against both Cass and Rosa. And the knife.

"Where else have you seen a knife that can cut through our wires like that?" Jason asked rhetorically. Tim nodded in agreement as he zoomed in on the blade. It was a different design to Jason's old knife, but when taken to an analysis level, it looked like the same metal his was made of.

"Wait," Steph interrupted them both. "Zoom out again." They obeyed until it showed the whole picture again. Theatre's head was about to jump as Rosa had reacted to the lines being cut and threw her projectiles at him. "Zoom in…" Steph said, pointing to his the top-right of his jacket. "...There." Tim did so, enhancing it slowly so it came up clean. The picture showed that the jacket had a logo of some kind. Not a fashion one, though. Tim's eyes widened.

"Eldritch Investments…" Jason and Steph reacted to this too. They both knew about Wayne Enterprises upcoming deal with the founder and CEO of Eldritch was tomorrow.

"Is it possible that this guy just works for him?" She suggested. "Maybe he's one of the staff members with Eldritch and is following whoever that other guy Rosa mentioned is… Black Slasher or something?"

"Black Claw, apparently," Jason corrected. "And no. If he was with the Eldritch staff he would have had a German accent." He fast-forwarded to the interrogation again and played some footage of him speaking. It proved his point. "He's from Gotham, that's for sure."

"Whoever he is, we need to find him and sort out the truth." Tim carried on. "Find out his agenda. He mentioned his friend, Harry? Apparently, Black Claw injected him with the serum before he went, but I'm not sure if that can be trusted anymore."

"What about Eldritch?" Steph asked. Tim frowned in confusion.

"What about him?"

You're meeting him tomorrow, right? Maybe he knows something about this?" Tim scowled.

"That's unlikely but…"

"But it's worth pursuing." Jason interrupted, agreeing with Steph's point. "If his logo is on Theatre's jacket, there's a slight chance he's involved. See if you can read anything from him tomorrow when you meet with him."

"You're working as Peter Hood tomorrow right?"

"I'm managing the general security of tomorrow's meeting, yes. But I'll be away from you for most of the day. If you think you find anything interesting, let me know after the meeting and I'll pursue him that night. If not, we'll drop it."

"What about Rosa?" Stephanie wondered. "From the look of it, she seemed to think Theatre was innocent. Is it a good idea to keep her involved in this case with a potential bias?" Jason thought about this, before shaking his head.

"Rosa will know when she needs to know." He said. "For now, when she comes to the cave tomorrow for training, keep her away from this case, distracted. Maybe even put her with The Outsiders or Nightwing for the time being. Dick will like the company if he's patrolling tomorrow."

With that, they parted for the night.


End file.
